Deep snow snags Cessna

A private pilot and flight instructor were flying a Cessna 182 over a snow covered runway in Chiloquin, Ore. The pair did a low pass over the runway, then the CFI decided to demonstrate a soft field touch-and-go.

The snow was deeper than the CFI anticipated and when the airplane touched down, the Cessna decelerated more than expected.

The CFI added full power and back pressure, but it wasn’t enough to keep the nosewheel from digging into the soft snow.

The airplane wheelbarrowed down the runway rocking so both wingtips hit the ground.

The NTSB attributed the accident to the flight instructor’s failure to maintain airplane control during a landing on a snow-covered runway.

Comments

The most important info is missing in this report – the snow depth ! I fly a Cessna in Northern CA, and most of the mountain airports have snow for 4 to 5 months. A Cessna Aerobat did the same thing at GOO last year. It flipped and destroyed the aircraft.
Why can’t the wind sock pole be marked with red/white sections to indicate snow depth ? Then a low pass would allow seeing the actual amount of snow ?

The windsock location may not have the same amount of snow as the runway. Windsocks have segmented circles that will affect snow depth & drifting. Sometimes snow will blow clear in the runway area, sometimes not if there are snow banks along the edges of the runway. Too many variables here for windsock snow depth indicator to be useful in judging snow depth on a runway.

The NTSB report states: “NTSB investigators used data provided by various entities, including, but not limited to, the Federal Aviation Administration and/or the operator and did not travel in support of this investigation to prepare this aircraft accident report.”
They are obligated to publish a report on all accidents in the interest of determining probable cause of all accidents in hopes of learning from it and preventing future accidents. We have to learn from the mistakes of others as we won’t live long enough to make them all ourselves.